$50 Billion State Budget 2024 Sent to IL House by Senate [Video]

The Illinois Senate, on May 30, 2023, approved a $50.6 billion state spending plan for 2024 that begins July 1. They sent the state budget to the Illinois House, where they will work through the weekend to complete it.

The news came Thursday evening, 24 hours after Gov. Pritzker revealed an agreed budget Framework. The governor and the Democratic Leaders of the General Assembly completed it hours away from a senate vote that passed the state budget 34-22.

Budget Sponsored by D-State Senator Elgie Sims

Senator Elgie Sims, D-Chicago, received high praise for sponsoring the budget. Sims subsequently lost his voice during the lengthy negotiations and could barely speak upon voting on the budget.

Sims delivered a fiery defense. He said,

This budget does reflect our shared priorities to move our state forward. It reflects our ability to invest in communities. What you call expenditures, we call investments, what you call overspending, we call building up.

Senator Republican Leader John Curran expressed that involving Republicans in the state budget talks is a step forward in their working relationship. Senator Curran voted against the budget.

Republicans Do Not Support State Budget

As a reason for non-support, Sen. Curran and his party members remind Democrats of a $75 million annual state tax credit program that will expire in January 2024. The Democrats are being accused of stonewalling this program and the state’s strictest-in-the-nation biometric privacy law.

Since the Senate passed the budget, the House must wait until Saturday to vote on the bill because of a constitutional precondition. These conditions state they must read a bill three days on the floor before a vote.

Despite the $1.8 billion declining revenues from April 2022, they expect the budget to pass with $1 billion in additional spending added. Governor Pritzker considers this state budget an investment for change for Illinois children and families while building the state’s record of fiscal responsibility.
According to Pritzker,

I look forward to the House taking up this budget that will make childcare and education more accessible, healthcare more affordable, and our state’s business and economic position even stronger.

Governor Pritzker’s Major Focus In State Budget Programs

One of the governor’s major priorities in this state budget is a program called “Smart Start Illinois.” This program aims at making childcare and preschool accessible to families with children aged three and four years old.

The $250 million allotted for this program will focus on increasing the number of preschool openings available, balancing the early childhood workforce, and bolstering the home visiting and early intervention programs. This state budget plan will include $100 million to improve early childhood learning facilities.

Another focus of the governor is a program called “Home Illinois.” They allotted this program  $350 million. An $85 million increase from last year’s budget. The bullet points of this program are homelessness prevention, affordable housing, outreach, and other programs aimed at reducing homelessness.

Immigrant Health Care Plan

During the Republican and Democrat debates over this budget, some of the major issues were growing a program that provides Medicaid-style health care for immigrants 42 and older. They have changed the age eligibility from the original 65 and over twice. This program has been operating since 2021.

The “Illinois All Kids” program allows immigrant minors to receive health care. Pushing for the program expansion, The Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus requests that adults 19-41 be included without a spending cap. They did not include this request in the 2024 state budget.

Senator Celina Villanueva, D-Chicago stated,

My push is always to make sure that we’re protecting our communities so that we’re doing as much as we can to help serve those immigrant communities that are also taxpayers.

The plan will include a $350 million increase in the K-12 education funding formula and a pension payment increase of $200 million. And, of course, the lawmakers get a 5.5% increase in their pay in this state budget. They receive a yearly base salary of $89,675.00.
Go Figure.

Written by Omari Jahi

Source

ABC7News: Illinois Senate approves $50B budget in the late-night vote; measure sent to House by Jerry Nowicki

Yahoo!Entertainment: Illinois Senate approves $50 billion budget, now heads to the House by Patrick Keck

Crain’s: Illinois is on the verge of having a new $50 billion budget by Greg Hinz

NPR: Illinois legislature passes $50B budget with major investments in education and child welfare by Peter Hancock

Feature Image Courtesy of J. Stephen Conn’s Flickr page (CCO)

First Inset Image by June Stricker Courtesy of Hanson Professional Services Inc. Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

Second Inset Image Courtesy of Illinois Springfield’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License

Third Inset Image Courtesy of QuoteInspector.com‘s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License